January 10, 2023 with Mack Tomlinson on “The Testing & Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness” (Part 2)

Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer

George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend

Jim Thorpe, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet

Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com. This is

Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 10th day of January, 2023.

Today is part two of a discussion we began yesterday with Mack Tomlinson, who is an author, a conference speaker, and pastor at Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas.

We have been speaking on and will continue to speak on the testing and temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness.

We're also going to be announcing the 2023 Fellowship Conference New York in Merrick, Long Island, which is being sponsored by Christ Fellowship of Patchewa, Long Island.

But it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, my dear friend Mack Tomlinson.

Thank you, Chris. It's great to be back again. Amen. And tell our listeners, for the sake of those who missed you yesterday, tell our listeners about Providence Chapel, Denton, Texas.

Well, we're a Reformed Baptistic church who has been here in Denton, which began in the year 2000, here in Denton, a college town of about 130 ,000 people, two universities here, 30 miles north of Dallas and Fort Worth.

And we love the gospel. We love the Reformed faith. We love the word of God.

We love the worship of Christ. We love one another. We love to take the gospel to a lost world.

And we welcome anyone warmly to visit us who moves into the

Dallas area or who is visiting the greater Dallas Fort Worth area any time to come and see us.

Praise God. And if anybody does want more information about this wonderful church, visit

ProvidenceDenton .org, ProvidenceDenton .org, and Denton is spelled

D -E -N -T -O -N. And just as I did yesterday, I want to thank my guest,

Mack Tomlinson. His friendship will forever remain in my heart.

He was one of the last individuals to share the gospel with my oldest brother,

John, while he was dying in the hospital. And I have nothing but the uttermost confidence that my brother,

John, is with his Lord, God, Savior, and King for eternity now. And I believe that God used

Mack as an instrument to bring him the gospel, to give him a new heart and open his eyes and ears.

And my brother, John, gave me extremely convincing evidence that he was truly trusting in Jesus Christ alone for his salvation.

So I want to thank you again for that, brother. And why don't you tell our listeners right off the bat, to prevent both of us from forgetting to announce this very important event, tell our listeners about Fellowship Conference New York.

Yeah, well, the dates on that, I believe, are February 23rd to the 25th.

Yeah, so Thursday through Saturday this year. Chris can repeat the the church location because it was it was his church when he lived on Long Island.

But I'll just comment about the conference. The Fellowship Conference New York, New York, started about 2018.

And the Lord began to draw pastors and churches and church leaders and families really not only from Long Island, but Manhattan and other boroughs of the greater

New York area. And God has used this conference to build up churches, to encourage pastors laboring in a hard area of the greater

New York area. And, you know, what's encouraged me so much is when

I've been up there every year for the conference, which, by the way, was not held in 2021 and 22 because of COVID.

And now it's resuming. And so what has struck me, Chris, about the

Christians in the greater New York City area is their hunger for Christ, their hunger for spiritual reality, their love of God's truth, their love of the believers and their their evangelistic fervor has just been a just a deep encouragement to me every time

I've been there. So very much looking forward to this. This is not a large conference.

It's on the smaller scale of, you know, 200, 250 or less, probably not even that many unless the registration increases this year.

So I just really warmly invite any believers within driving distance of New York City to think about those dates and join us.

And you can find information to register for that conference at I'll Be Honest dot com, a well -known, wonderful website for ministry.

I'll Be Honest dot com. You can find the registration information. And the speakers will include my guest,

Mac Thomason, Kyle White, who I have already interviewed last week, and Michael Durham, who

I intend to interview at some point in the near future, God willing, before the conference. So I am really looking forward to that.

And I also urge you to go to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio archive after this live show is over and type in the search engine

Kyle White, K -Y -L -E, White, and you will hear the most recent interview

I've conducted with Kyle to promote this conference. I've also had on the program with Kyle, Michael McCarthy, the one of the pastors.

Well, actually, right now he is the only pastor. He used to have a fellow pastor with him who has received a call to another church in North Carolina.

But Michael McCarthy is right now the sole pastor of Christ Fellowship in Patchogue, Long Island, and they are using the facilities of the former church where I was a member before moving to Pennsylvania, Grace Reform Baptist Church of Long Island in Merrick, which is on Smith Street in Merrick, right in the village of Merrick.

And I hope to get there myself. I have to move some things around to get there, but I hope that God enables me to be there because it will be a double blessing not only to hear

Mack and Kyle and Michael Durham preach, but also to see some of my old friends from Grace Reform Baptist Church of Long Island in Merrick.

Once again, that's I'llbehonest .com, and remember the website URL has no apostrophes in it, so it's spelled

I -L -L -B -H -O -N -E -S -T -O -T -C -O -M, and all the information that you need will be there.

Well, once again, I am going to read the account of Christ's testing and temptation in the wilderness, as I did yesterday, but this time

I'm going to read from Matthew's account, and I'm using the

New American Standard Bible. And we have in chapter 4 of Matthew, verse 1.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after he had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, he then became hungry.

And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones become bread.

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him along into the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple.

And he said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will give his angels orders concerning you, and on their hands they will lift you up so that you do not strike your foot against a stone.

Jesus said to him, On the other hand, it is written, You shall not put the Lord your

God to the test. Again the devil took him along to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

And he said to him, All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.

Then Jesus said to him, Go away, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the

Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and began to serve him.

Well, Mac, why don't you pick up where you left off from yesterday and address some of the issues that we did not have the time to cover in regard to this very important passage.

Yeah, I'm very glad to do so. Can you hear me well, Chris, still? I hear you fine. Yeah, today

I want to kind of do three things in the time we have left. I want to first talk about the divine purpose that God had in Christ being tempted, and then

I want to address briefly the three temptations that are mentioned by Matthew. And then

I want to close by just talking about the Christian and our experiencing temptation and our responsibility in temptation.

So just beginning with number one, God's purpose of his son being tempted, what possible purpose could

God the Father have had in his own son being tempted? And so to think about this, let's just think briefly about the context and then,

Chris, you can jump in and interrupt me anytime you need to. But remember that before Jesus entered the wilderness area to be tempted for 40 days, he had just left the waters of the

Jordan where John the Baptist had baptized him. And so in one sense, the things happening to Jesus, he was somewhat passive in, meaning he was the recipient of water baptism by John.

He received the anointing of the Holy Spirit from his father, and he received the assurance of his father at the

Jordan when the father spoke to Christ and said, you are my beloved son whom

I'm well pleased. So all these things were done to the Lord Jesus. Now a different thing is done to the

Lord Jesus because the Holy Spirit does something unusual and very unique. The spirit compels

Christ and strongly leads him to go into the wilderness for an extended period of time, almost six weeks, 40 days specifically, and the number 40 or the number four, either one, but especially 40 is representative in the

Bible of a time of testing or hardship. And that's certainly what this became in Jesus earthly life, because apart from Gethsemane three years later and then the cross.

There was no greater suffering that the man Jesus experienced than these 40 days of being tempted by Satan himself.

And so he's led into a period of deep testing to be tempted by Satan, but he's led there by the father for God's purpose.

So I think we need to define the difference in the biblically speaking, what the difference would be a divine testing and what would be a satanic temptation.

So this wilderness experience, it was temptation by Satan to get

Christ to sin and disobey. But it was a it was a positive testing by the father for Christ.

Life in terms of becoming our savior, it was a testing of obedience.

So the divine purpose was testing, learning obedience, a conquest and conquering for Jesus.

But the satanic purpose was temptation to sin. The satanic purpose was would have been

Jesus defeat, but the divine purpose, of course, is Christ's ultimate victory.

And so another way to think about it is the satanic purpose was to destroy the works of God through his son.

But the divine purpose ultimately is to destroy the works of the devil through the redeemer.

And of course, the apostle John says for this purpose was the son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

So from God, the father's standpoint, Christ was going in there to learn to fight the battle and was going to overcome from Satan standpoint.

He was there to tempt Jesus to sin, to defeat him and to disqualify him from being our redeemer.

So that being said, then we could shift to think about. The specific temptations in Matthew chapter four.

Matthew's focus in chapter four is giving the details of the three specific temptations which also

Luke forgives, which are representative really of 40 days of temptation.

And these temptations of Jesus are central to Jesus earthly ministry.

And it's there not to be taken lightly at all, because number one, Christ had to be tempted and tested to qualify to be our high priest.

But also. Jesus becomes our example as the perfect man for the

Christian life, because has as he overcame temptation, so the

Christian in our journey has to learn to overcome temptation as well.

And it's important to realize that Jesus has a man he did not draw upon his his powers of deity to overcome temptation.

He used the same things that we have now as Christians that he used to overcome.

And those were the word of God, the fullness of the Holy Spirit and faith in his heavenly father.

Those were Jesus three tools and weapons against temptation. And that's what we have.

So that makes him a wonderful example for our Christian life. Um, so.

The Lord Jesus didn't just stumble into the wilderness to suddenly be tempted, this is the father's significant plan for him to be led there.

And so as we think about Christ getting to the wilderness.

Whether Satan was there waiting on him or Satan showed up soon, we don't know, but let's just think of the tempter who came to Jesus for 40 days.

The Bible tells us very much about the tempter Satan and his schemes and his wiles.

The Bible says that he lies, he tempts, he deceives, he accuses, he condemns.

He comes to steal, kill and destroy. Someone has said that he's a double minded devil.

And what does that mean? Well, think about it. First, he entices us to sin. And then once we sin, he accuses us for having done it.

Like the temptation might come in the form of go ahead, you'll get pleasure out of this, this will be good.

So there's a positive affirmation about giving in to the temptation. Then after you give in,

Satan comes with his accusations and he says, how could you have done that? What does your

God think of you now? Being a former drunk, that reminds me of a lot of bartenders

I knew because they would keep feeding you with booze as long as you wanted to spend money.

But as soon as you got drunk, especially if you were verbally abusive to anybody in the rest of the bar or if you were doing anything inappropriate that was causing discomfort to other people, then you were not only cut off, but sometimes kicked out or carried out of that establishment, being insulted all the way after you were being fed this alcohol that got you into the position you were in.

Right, that's a good point. So in a way, think about temptation this way.

When we are tempted with something, it looks so attractive to us and so desirable.

So Satan comes almost like an invisible friend, making it look alluring and wonderful.

But after we give in, then he's an enemy and a condemning liar.

He condemns us and accuses us. So we have to recognize this, how he works.

That's why Paul said we're not to be ignorant of Satan's devices. So the three temptations

Matthew mentions were really representative of 40 days of temptation.

So apparently Jesus over 40 days was tempted in every way a human can be tempted.

And in every single one of the temptations, Satan is tempting

Jesus to do one thing, disobey his father and to not trust his father.

And that's at the heart of any temptation. Satan wants us to disobey God's word and disobey

Christ. So.

Let's just shift now, Chris, if you want me to, into the three specific temptations in Matthew four.

Yes. All right, so these are found and Chris read them already in Matthew four verses one through 11.

And remember that Jesus has been fasting for 40 days, which is really a supernatural.

Acute fast at the end of those 40 days, the Bible says that he was hungry and it would have been an extreme hunger.

So it's interesting that the very first temptation that Satan brings is he comes to tempt

Jesus to turn the stones that are laying on the ground to turn them into bread.

So this was a temptation for Jesus to meet his own physical hunger and his own physical needs because he's there and there's no food around.

So what's the temptation happening here? Satan knows

Jesus is the son of God, so he's tempting Christ to exercise his own divine power to relieve prematurely or illegally his own physical needs.

So maybe the temptation came in this way, the thoughts could have come to Jesus mind.

You know, I'm so hungry. I've never been this hungry in my whole life.

And perhaps there's no food out here and, you know, I could

I could just collapse and not even wake up so, you know,

I could turn these stones into some bread and I could nourish myself. So this could have been to Jesus a very legitimate temptation.

So Satan says, why don't you turn those stones into bread? You know, you can do it. You're the son of God.

Just use your power. And he could have even we don't know this, but Jesus was there in the wilderness with Israel as the divine son and God provided manna for Israel in the wilderness.

Jesus could have thought about that. You know, God provided manna for for Israel in the wilderness.

Well, I can provide myself some bread here. So. It seemed like a legitimate temptation.

And yet Jesus recognized that it was illegitimate because God did not want him to meet his own need prematurely or illegitimately.

So really, it was a temptation, not only to disobedience, but of unbelief that in the moment of his physical need to not trust his heavenly father's provision and timing.

So the first temptation was to distrust his heavenly father's provisional care to meet his legitimate needs.

And this this becomes very real because you think about the human physical appetites, the main appetites are physical food and the sexual need that man has.

That could be the lust or the desires of the flesh. And so how often is man tempted to sin, even in an excessive appetite with food or to sin wrongly in the area of sexual need?

Food and sexual need for married people are very legitimate needs, but Satan wants to twist that and tempt us to disobey

God and meet those those physical needs in an unbiblical way.

This was the first temptation of Jesus that he met. Well, in fact, why don't we stop there so I don't have to interrupt you mid -sentence because we have to go into our first commercial break right now.

If anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail dot com.

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail dot com. Give us your first name at least, your city and state and your country of residence.

Only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter. Don't go away.

We'll be right back with Mack Tomlinson after these messages. James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.

I'm very excited to announce that my longtime friend Chris Arnson of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and I are heading down to Atlanta, Georgia again for the

G3 National Conference. That's Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd on a theme that I've been preaching, teaching, writing about and defending in live public debates for most of my life.

The sovereignty of God. I'll be joined on the speaking roster by Steve Lawson, Voti Baucom, Paul Washer, Virgil Walker, Scott Anuel and Josh Bice, founder of G3 Ministries.

And there's more great news. Chris Arnson of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio can get you a 30 percent discount off the registration fee.

Go to g3min .org. That's g3min .org and enter promo code

G3 -I -S -I -R. That's G3 -I -S -I -R for the 30 percent discount.

Chris Arnson, I look forward to seeing you all Thursday, September 21st through Saturday the 23rd. The G3 National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on the sovereignty of God.

Make sure you stop by the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio exhibitor booth and say hi to Chris Arnson while you're there.

Go to g3min .org and enter promo code G3 -I -S -I -R for your 30 percent discount off the registration fee.

The Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, once said, growing a beard is a habit most natural, scriptural, manly and beneficial.

Grace and peace to all the Iron Sharpens Iron listeners. This is Tony with thestandardbeardcare .com.

That's right, thestandardbeardcare .com is a Christ exalting, better known and simple name in beard care.

So if you have a beard, know a guy with a beard or ladies, if you're married to a man with a beard, head over to thestandardbeardcare .com.

Check out the vast array of all natural handcrafted products to make that beard scriptural, manly and beneficial.

And when you do so, you will help to support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. When you use the promo code

IRON at checkout, you will receive free shipping to anywhere in the lower 48 and 10 percent of your donations will go back to Chris Arnson and Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

So head over to thestandardbeardcare .com where the standard is the standard.

Have you noticed the gap that exists between the Sunday morning sermon and the Sunday school classroom or the small group study?

So often we experience great preaching from the pulpit, but when it comes time to study God's word in those smaller settings, well, let's be honest, it leaves a lot to be desired.

It seems like it is nearly impossible to find good curriculum out there today that is true to the word of God and is built upon sound doctrine.

Much less it's hard to find curriculum that will actually teach people how to study the Bible. Hi there.

My name is Jordan, too, and I am the executive director of the Baptist Publishing House. Our ministry is dedicated to providing local churches with sound

Bible study resources. Our quarterly curriculum is titled The Baptist Expositor.

And for good reason, we are Baptist and we exegete the scriptures. If you want to have a curriculum that teaches your people how to study the word of God, I invite you to go to our website, download a free study.

BaptistPublishingHouse .com. May God bless you. If you're near retirement or thinking about retiring, you probably have questions.

How do you make your savings last? How much should you take out and when? You're ready for retirement, but are your finances?

Art Amundsen, an Edward Jones financial advisor, can help you build a strategy to help make sure your finances keep up with your long term needs.

Do what it takes to get there. Now it's time to make the most of retirement. Visit EdwardJones .com.

That's EdwardJones .com or call 717 -258 -4688.

717 -258 -4688. We here at Iron Sharpens Iron Radio are forever grateful for the generous financial support of Art Amundsen.

Edward Jones, financial advisor in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Call 717 -258 -4688 today.

I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, president emeritus and professor of systematic and applied theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Every Christian who's serious about the deformed faith and the Westminster standards should have and use the eight volume commentary on the theology and ethics of the

Westminster Larger Catechism titled Authentic Christianity by Dr. Joseph Moorcraft.

It is much more than an exposition of the larger catechism. It is a thoroughly researched work that utilizes biblical exegesis as well as historical and systematic theology.

Dr. Moorcraft is pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, and I urge everyone looking for a biblically faithful church in that area to visit that fine congregation.

For details on the eight volume commentary, go to westminstercommentary .com, westminstercommentary .com.

For details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com,

heritagepresbyterianchurch .com. Please tell Dr. Moorcraft and the saints at Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, that Dr.

Joseph Piper of Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary sent you. When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

NASB. This is Darrell Bernard Harrison, co -host of the Just Thinking podcast and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Tom Buck at First Baptist Church in Glendale, Texas, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Kent Keller of Faith Bible Church in Sharpsburg, Georgia, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Andrew Rapport, the founder and executive director at Striving for Eternity Ministries, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Mark Romaldi, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Greenbrier, Tennessee, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Christopher Cookston, pastor of Prineville Community Church in Prineville, Oregon, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Matt Tarr, pastor of High Point Baptist Church in Larksville, Pennsylvania, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com. That's nasbible .com to place your order.

I'm Dr. Tony Costa, professor of apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary.

I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love,

Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jensen and Christopher McDowell.

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God, like the dear saints at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, who have an intense passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in his holy word, and to enthusiastically proclaim

Christ Jesus, the King and his doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island and beyond.

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love as I have.

For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.

That's hopereformedli .net or call 631 -696 -5711.

That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island, New York, that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.

Getting a driver's license, running a cash register, flipping burgers, passing sixth grade.

Do you know what they all have in common? They all require training assessments and certifications, but do you know what requires no training at all?

Becoming a parent. My name is AM Brewster. I'm the president of Truth Love Parent and host of its award -winning podcast.

I've been a biblical family counselor since the early 2000s, and what I've discovered is that the majority of Christian parents have never been biblically equipped to do the work of the ministry in their homes.

That's why Truth Love Parent exists. We serve God by equipping dads and moms to be the ambassador parents

God called and created them to be. We produce free parenting resources, train church leaders, and offer biblical counseling so that the next generation of dads and moms can use the scriptures to parent their children for life and godliness.

Please visit us at truthloveparent .com. We here at Iron Sharpens Iron Radio praise

God for the generous monthly financial support of Royal Diadem Jewelers, educated by and affiliated with the

American Gem Society, Jewelers of America, and the Gemological Institute of America.

For the perfect custom designed engagement ring or any one of a kind piece of jewelry created exactly according to your imagination and specifications,

Royal Diadem Jewelers has you covered. No matter where you live in the world, Royal Diadem will walk you step by step through every stage of the process and even hold a high tech internet virtual visit using state of the art jewelry design technology to serve you.

They start by listening carefully to determine your needs. They're interested in making what you want, not what they want to sell you.

From rough design to digital model, to photo realistic image, to wax prototype model, to the finished product.

They are continually listening to your input, likes and dislikes, making any changes necessary along the way.

This will ensure that your custom jewelry will turn out exactly as you dreamed and well beyond your expectations.

Visit royaldiadem .com. That's royaldiadem .com today.

Sterling Vandewerker, owner of Royal Diadem Jewelers, his wife, Bronnie, his business partner and manager,

Brian Wilson, and the entire family. Thank you all for listening to, praying for, and supporting the work of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

And don't forget folks, royaldiadem .com is still offering

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio this mind blowing opportunity. Anyone in our audience who purchases jewelry, either that which they already have in stock, at royaldiadem .com,

or if you are actually creating a custom design piece of jewelry, we at Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, if you mention this program, will receive 100 % of the profits for a limited time only.

So please, if you have any intention on purchasing jewelry for yourself, for somebody that you love as a gift, perhaps a

Valentine's Day present, and you want to bless Iron Sharpens Iron Radio at the same time, please go to royaldiadem .com

and either search their website for jewelry you can purchase on the spot, or have a custom design piece of jewelry created like an engagement ring, or turning your church logo, your parachurch ministry logo, your seminary logo, or anything else that your creativity and imagination can conjure up into a one of a kind piece of customized jewelry.

And remember, always mention Chris Arns and of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio when you go to royaldiadem .com,

so that we can receive 100 % of the profits. And we don't know when they're going to pull the plug on this offer to us, so please try to make your purchase as soon as possible.

That's royaldiadem .com, mention Chris Arns and of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Before I return to Mac Tomlinson, I also want to thank a new advertiser on this program, whose ad you just heard near the beginning of the commercial break, thestandardbeardcare .com.

They are a brand new advertiser with us, and they too are offering Iron Sharpens Iron Radio a wonderful deal.

If you purchase anything from thestandardbeardcare .com for yourself, if you have a beard, or for your husband if he has a beard, or a gift for someone who has a beard, perhaps contact all of the theonomists you know and let them know about this.

It seems that all the theonomists these days are wearing beards. If you purchase from thestandardbeardcare .com

and mention Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, you'll get free shipping and you'll also receive 10 % off your purchase.

That's thestandardbeardcare .com, and we are thrilled that Anthony Thomas and the

Standard Beard Care has joined the Iron Sharpens Iron family of advertisers. We're now back with Mac Tomlinson, and Mac, if you could pick up where you left off with some more important insights from the testing and temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness.

Yeah, well, I was finishing before the break talking about the nature of that first temptation where Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread and that the nature of that was a physical temptation to meet his own physical needs.

And it's interesting that the Apostle John in 1

John 2, 16, addresses three areas of carnal desires or lust.

And these three areas John mentions really mirror the three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness.

John says in 1 John 2, 16, for all that is in the world.

That is the lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world.

So the three categories there, the first is the lust of the flesh. The second is the lust of the eyes.

And the third is the pride of life. Well, the first temptation was a fleshly temptation, not that Jesus had fleshly lust.

But the word lust in the Bible often is the connotation of desires, passions, and sometimes those are a legitimate need.

You know, the desires of the flesh are for food, etc. And so the when you think about a physical temptation or a physical need, think how much this applies in this world we live in, because most people's physical appetites are driven for food and for sexual gratification.

And we do know that Jesus was tempted here to meet his own physical need for food in the moment.

But we also know that the Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in all points like we are yet without sin.

So we know as a man, truly human, he would have had sexual temptation as well.

Not that he had any lust or impurity in his heart, but he would have been tempted to look on a woman lustfully and he never did it.

He would have been tempted to gratify his own physical needs. And he never for once gave into it.

In other words, it's like what you were saying yesterday, because we have a common usage of the term temptation, that always when you say,

I'm tempted to have a piece of that chocolate cake, even though my doctor told me not to be eating sweets like that, you're usually thinking about it, you're salivating, you are fantasizing putting that slice of cake near your mouth and putting a fork of that delicious, moist cake in your mouth and savoring it.

This is not what you're talking about with Jesus Christ and lust. No, he had no inner impurities where he was desiring something because of his own impure nature.

No, he had total purity within no sin whatsoever.

But the temptation came to him as a true human being because he was functioning truly as a man on earth as a true human being.

So this brings up. The fact that you don't have to be a fallen human being to be tempted,

Adam and Eve were tempted in their innocency before they fell. But to be truly human, not sinfully human, but to be truly human,

Adam and Eve and the man Jesus, that means that you can be tempted. Adam and Eve gave in to that temptation, the

Lord Jesus never did, yet he was truly tempted because he was truly human.

So this leads then to the second temptation of Christ, and that is when

Satan. In Chris, remind me to go back to Christ, three responses when we cover all three temptations, because Jesus had the same response in every every temptation.

So when the first temptation didn't work, Satan moves to the second one, and in a way, he becomes more subtle.

The second temptation, the Bible says that Satan took

Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. And he tempts him to jump off from the pinnacle of the temple.

And so he says, if you're the son of God, throw yourself down from the top of the temple mount.

And then Satan becomes a theologian here. He becomes very religious, even by quoting

Scripture. And of course, Satan probably knows the Bible better than any of us.

He's had a long time to learn it. And here he quotes

Scripture. But he takes it out of context, of course. And so he says, if you're the son of God, throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple.

As the Scripture says. God will send his angels to keep you and bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone.

So Satan comes quoting Scripture. And so this is even a more subtle temptation.

Because he makes it appear to be. A scripturally sanctioned,

I mean, if you can quote Scripture about something you want to do, that seems like God is going to be

OK with it. It makes it sound better.

It makes it sound acceptable. And so Satan is basically saying, look, throw yourself down.

All the world will then know that you're probably truly the Messiah. If people see you jump from the pinnacle of the temple and then you're spared, it will be clear proof and evidence that you are who you say you are.

And so just go ahead and do it. And the temptation was really.

To. Tempt. The Lord, his

God. Foolishly abusing the doctrine of God's providence.

In other words, Jesus could jump off the pinnacle of the temple, but he certainly couldn't then trust

God to save him because Scripture doesn't allow anyone to presume upon God's word or God's promises and still be kept from evil.

But that's what Satan was attempting Jesus to do, to presume on his father's goodness, that if even if he did this, that God wasn't leading to do, he could still trust the promises of God.

And so Jesus replies. By saying to Satan, Scripture says you shall not put the

Lord your God to a test. So it would have been the sin of presumption.

And again, it would have been misusing Scripture. To Satan's misquoting it.

And ultimately, at the heart of it, again, Satan. Is wanting

Christ to disobey his father, and if Christ had disobeyed his father even once and sinned, he would not be have become our redeemer.

There would be no salvation. There would be have been no gospel and the whole world for eternity would perish.

So let us think just how significant it is that every time

Jesus was tempted, he chose to obey his father and resist the temptation.

And I think, Chris, there's a great example for us in this. Religious temptation to sin can be very, very deceptive.

Paul, the apostle, said to the Corinthians that sometimes that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and as a minister of righteousness.

And so he comes portraying himself in a religious way with religious garments on.

And he wants to appear like that this is something that would be of God.

One example I think about is. Maybe you've seen this, too, over the years of being a

Christian, I've seen people in churches get bitter toward other Christians or bitter toward their church leaders or their church, then they rebel, they become critical, they leave the church, they abandon fellowship.

But then they will tell others, why are you leaving the church? And their answer is, well, you know, we just feel like the

Lord is just leading us to a new church situation. He's guiding us and we just know that he's with us in this.

And all the time, all they did was rebel and criticize the church and they're disobeying scripture.

In fact, in fact, could you pick up right where you left off when we return from a midway break?

Sure. And if anybody would like to join us on the air, we do have some people waiting to have their questions asked and answered by Mack Tomlinson.

So please be patient with us. But if you'd like to join us as well, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

Remember, folks, the midway break is the longer than normal break in the show because Grace Life Radio, 90 .1

FM in Lake City, Florida, is required to have a longer break in the middle of the show because the FCC requires of them to geographically localize

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio to Lake City, Florida, and they do so with their own public service announcements and other local announcements that they make during this midway break while we simultaneously air our globally heard commercials.

Please use this time wisely. Try to respond to as many of our advertisers as you can so that they will continue renewing their contracts on this program and also send in your questions on the testing and temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness to Mack Tomlinson.

chrisarnsen at gmail .com. chrisarnsen at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, city and state and country of residence.

We'll be right back. Don't go away. James White of Alfenbega Ministries here.

I'm very excited to announce that my longtime friend, Chris Arnsen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and I are heading down to Atlanta, Georgia again for the

G3 National Conference. That's Thursday, September 21st through Saturday, the 23rd on a theme that I've been preaching, teaching, writing about and defending in live public debates for most of my life, the sovereignty of God.

I'll be joined on the speaking roster by Steve Lawson, Voti Baucom, Paul Washer, Virgil Walker, Scott Anuel and Josh Bice, founder of G3 Ministries.

And there's more great news. Chris Arnsen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio can get you a 30 % discount off the registration fee.

Go to g3min .org, that's g3min .org and enter promo code

G3ISIR, that's G3ISIR for the 30 % discount.

Chris Arnsen and I look forward to seeing you all Thursday, September 21st through Saturday, the 23rd in the

G3 National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on the sovereignty of God. Make sure you stop by the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Exhibitor booth and say hi to Chris Arnsen while you're there.

Go to g3min .org and enter promo code G3ISIR for your 30 % discount off the registration fee.

The Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, curling a beard is a habit most natural, scriptural, manly and beneficial.

Grace and peace to all the Iron Sharpens Iron listeners. This is Tony with thestandardbeardcare .com.

That's right, thestandardbeardcare .com is a Christ exalting, better known and simple name in beard care.

So if you have a beard, know a guy with a beard or ladies, if you're married to a man with a beard, head over to thestandardbeardcare .com,

check out the vast array of all natural handcrafted products to make that beard scriptural, manly and beneficial.

And when you do so, you will help to support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. When you use the promo code IRON at checkout, you will receive free shipping to anywhere in the lower 48 and 10 % of your donations will go back to Chris Arnsen and Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

So head over to thestandardbeardcare .com where the standard is the standard.

It's such a blessing to hear from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners from all over the world.

Here's Joe Riley, a listener in Ireland who wants you to know about a guest on the show he really loves hearing interviewed,

Dr. Joe Moorcraft. I'm Joe Riley, a faithful Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener here in Atai, in County Kildare, Ireland.

Going back to 2008, I was the first Iron Sharpens Iron radio listener in Ireland. In 2005, one of my very favorite guests on Iron Sharpens Iron is

Dr. Joe Moorcraft. If you've been blessed by Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Dr. Moorcraft and Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia are largely to thank since they are one of the program's largest financial supporters.

Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming is in Forsyth County, a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Heritage is a thoroughly biblical church, unwaveringly committed to Westminster standards. And Dr.

Joe Moorcraft is the author of an eight volume commentary on the larger catechism. Heritage is a member of the

Hanover Presbytery built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone and tracing its roots and heritage back to the great

Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Heritage maintains and follows the biblical truth and principles proclaimed by the reformers, scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone,

Christ alone, and God's glory alone. Their primary goal is the worship of the triune God that continues in eternity.

For more details on Heritage Presbyterian Church of Cumming, Georgia, visit heritagepresbyterianchurch .com.

That's heritagepresbyterianchurch .com or call 678 -954 -7831.

That's 678 -954 -7831. If you visit, tell them

Joe O 'Reilly, Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listener from a tie in County Kildare, Ireland sent you.

Hello. My name is Anthony Uvino and I'm one of the pastors at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Quorum, New York, and also the host of the reformrookie .com

website. I want you to know that if you enjoy listening to the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio show, like I do, you can now find it on the

Apple's iTunes app by typing Iron Sharpens Iron Radio in the search bar. You no longer have to worry about missing a show or a special guest because you're in your car or still at work.

Just subscribe on the iTunes app and listen to the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio show at any time, day or night.

Please be sure to also give it a good review and pass it along to anyone who would benefit from the teaching and the many solidly reformed guests that Chris Arnzen has on the show.

Truth is so hard to come by these days. So don't waste your time with fluff or fake news. Subscribe to the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio podcast right now. And while you're at it, you can also sign up for the reformrookie .com

podcast and visit our website and the YouTube page. We're dedicated to teaching Christian theology from a

Reformed Baptist perspective to beginners in the faith, as well as seasoned believers. From Keech's Catechism and the

Doctrines of Grace to the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Leviticus, the Reform Rookie podcast and YouTube channel is sure to have something to offer everyone seeking biblical truth.

And finally, if you're looking to worship in a Reformed church that holds to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, please join us at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Corham, New York.

Again, I'm Pastor Anthony Invinio, and thanks for listening. If you love

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, one of the best ways you can help keep the show on the air is by supporting our advertisers.

One such faithful advertiser who really believes in what Chris Arnzen is doing is

Daniel P. Patafuoco, serious injury lawyer and Christian apologist.

Dan is the president and founder of the Historical Bible Society. Their mission, to foster belief in the credibility of scripture as the written word of God.

They go to various churches, schools, and institutions to publicly display a rare collection of biblical texts, along with a fascinating presentation by Mr.

Patafuoco demonstrating the reliability of scripture. To advance the cause of the gospel, they created a beautiful perfect facsimile of the genealogy of Jesus Christ from the original engravings contained in a first edition 1611

King James Bible. This 17th century hand engraved chart shows the family tree of Jesus Christ going back to Adam and Eve.

This book is complete with gorgeous full size illustrations of Noah's Ark and the

Tower of Babel, and an explanation of why the genealogy of Jesus is so important for his claims to the throne of the universe.

Originals of this work are in museums and nobody's ever made it accessible to the public in a large book form before.

You can have your own copy of this 44 page genealogy book for a donation of $35 or more.

Visit historicalbiblesociety .org. That's historicalbiblesociety .org.

Thanks for helping to keep Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio on the air. When Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

NASB. I'm Dr. Joseph Piper, President and Professor of Systematic and Homiletical Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Taylor, South Carolina.

And the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Chuck White at the

First Trinity Lutheran Church in Tonawanda, New York, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Anthony Methenia of Christ Church in Radford, Virginia, and the NASB is my

Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Justin Miller of Damascus Road Christian Church in Gardnerville, Nevada, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Bruce Bennett of Word of Truth Church in Farmingville, Long Island, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Rodney Brown of Metro Bible Church in South Lake, Texas, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jim Harrison of Red Mills Baptist Church in Mayapac Falls, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, go to nasbible .com.

That's nasbible .com to place your order. Getting a driver's license, running a cash register, flipping burgers, passing sixth grade.

Do you know what they all have in common? They all require training, assessments, and certifications, but do you know what requires no training at all?

Becoming a parent. My name is A .M. Brewster. I'm the president of Truth Love Parent and host of its award -winning podcast,

I've been a biblical family counselor since the early two thousands. And what I've discovered is that the majority of Christian parents have never been biblically equipped to do the work of the ministry in their homes.

That's why Truth Love Parent exists. We serve God by equipping dads and moms to be the ambassador parents

God called and created them to be. We produce free parenting resources, trained church leaders, and offer biblical counseling so that the next generation of dads and moms can use the scriptures to parent their children for life and godliness.

Please visit us at truthloveparent .com. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, give yourself unto reading.

The man who never reads will never be read. He who never quotes will never be quoted.

He will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.

You need to read. Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the

Prince of Preachers to heart. The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and future, and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.

Since its beginning in 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God -centered,

Christ -exalting books for all ages. We invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com.

That's solid -ground -books .com, and see what priceless literary gems from the past to present you can unearth from Solid Ground.

Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And Solid Ground Christian Books is a premier sponsor of this program.

So I'm urging you to make your very first stop for all your gift giving needs. Solid -ground -books .com.

Solid -ground -books .com. And I know my friend and my guest today, Mac Tomlinson, has an extremely high regard for Solid Ground Christian Books.

Do you not, Mac? Yes, Michael Gaydosh is one of the finest men

I've met in the last 50 years of being a Christian. He's a dear, sincere man of integrity.

And I really encourage all your listeners to buy as many books over the year as they can from Michael Gaydosh and Solid Ground, really warmly recommend them.

And the website again is solid -ground -books .com. And remember, you're not only going to be doing

Mike Gaydosh and Solid Ground Christian Books an enormous favor by purchasing their books, and you're not only going to be doing me and Iron Sharpens Iron Radio an enormous favor by keeping one of my most valuable advertisers happy, you're going to be doing yourself and anyone for whom you are purchasing gifts from solid -ground -books .com,

an enormous favor of incalculable value because they bring back into print and publish nothing but the very finest in Christian literature dating back to the

Protestant Reformation and extending forward into our present day, including such modern day authors as Dr.

James R. White of Alpha and Omega Ministries. That's solid -ground -books .com, purchase frequently, purchase generously, always mentioning that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Before I return to Mac Tomlinson and our discussion on the testing and temptation of Christ in the wilderness,

I just have a couple of very important announcements to make. Folks, we are hurting seriously financially here at Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

We thank God for the new advertisers that have come in that have basically rescued this program from leaving existence, entering out of existence, but we still need your help.

Ever since the hysteria surrounding COVID struck the media and the scare tactics and the unconstitutional mandates that were imposed upon many, if not all, of the country, our giving to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio has plummeted to an all -time low, and we have never bounced back.

So I'm asking you, please, if you really love the show and you don't want it to disappear, go to ironsharpensironradio .com, click support, then click, click to donate.

Now, if you want to mail in a check the old -fashioned way via snail mail, sending in a physical check to a physical address, well, there will also be a physical address that appears on your screen when you click support at ironsharpensironradio .com,

where you can mail your checks made payable to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And also, if you want to advertise, if you want to advertise your church, your parachurch ministry, your business, your private practice, whether it's a medical practice or a law firm, whether it's just a special event that you are promoting, well, please, as long as whatever it is you're promoting is compatible with what we believe,

I would love to help you launch an ad campaign on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio immediately. We are just as much in urgent need of your advertising dollars as we are in your donations.

So send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line. And remember, folks, never give your own church where you're a member less money than you normally give them in order to bless

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio with a gift financially. Never do that. And if you're really struggling to survive, please don't punish your family by giving

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio a large gift that would take food off your dinner table and perhaps make the pile of unpaid bills on your dinner table higher than they were before.

The two commands that are clear in the Bible about finances is that an obedient Christian must support his church and support his family.

There's no command that you have to bless Iron Sharpens Iron Radio with a gift. But if you do love the show and you don't want it to disappear, and you have extra money in the bank collecting interest, and you have extra money for benevolent, recreational, and trivial purposes, please share some of that money with us.

And by going to ironsharpensironradio .com, click Support, and then click Click to Donate Now.

Last but not least, if you are not a member of a Christ -honoring, biblically faithful, theologically sound, doctrinally solid church like Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas, I have extensive lists spanning the globe of biblically faithful churches, and I've helped many people in our audience in all parts of the world find biblically faithful churches, sometimes within just a couple of minutes from where they live.

And that may be you, too, if you are without a church home or without a solid church home. Give me an email.

Send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put, I need a church in the subject line. That's also the email address where you could send in a question to Mac Tomlinson, chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Give us your first name, at least, your city and state, and your country of residence. Mac, is there anything more that you want to say about the final temptation that we have recorded in this passage in Matthew, where, starting in verse 8, again, the devil took him along to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to them, all these things

I will give you if you fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, go away, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the

Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him and behold, angels came and began to serve him.

Do you have anything more to say about that passage? Well, you know, that is the third temptation that Satan came to him with.

And it's more, the third one is more of an overt temptation. Satan kind of just comes out of the closet, it's not subtle.

He just says, if you'll fall down and worship me, then I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world.

And so, it's really, you know, how did this happen?

The gospels record that Satan took Jesus on a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

So this, you know, does that mean Satan was able to control Jesus and physically take him there?

I don't think we're necessarily supposed to believe that, that Satan had control of him.

And besides that, there weren't any, obviously no high mountain where Jesus could physically see all the kingdoms of the world.

Now, obviously, if he had been on a high mountain overlooking Jerusalem and the surrounding area, he could have seen a far distance.

But are we to believe that somehow Satan controlled Jesus to go physically?

Not necessarily at all. It could have been a very vivid vision or somehow that in Jesus' mind, instantly he was tempted to realize that if Satan, if he bowed down and worshiped

Satan, which was the direct temptation, that he could have had everything that Satan would offer him.

And, you know, I think it's obviously true in history that Satan has made men very rich, who sold their souls, so to speak, to the devil.

And he made them very, very wealthy. Some of the most wealthiest men in history have been very evil.

Some of the most wealthiest men today are evil men. And so this third temptation was one.

It was just a direct one and was very overt. Jesus, fall down and worship me and I'll make you the wealthiest, the most, the richest, the most satisfied person in the whole world.

So Satan promises Christ here all the kingdoms of the world. He was proposing to give

Jesus everything if Jesus would fall down and worship him. That was the only time in this account or any of the gospel accounts where Satan is making a claim about his own power.

The other two attempts at tempting Christ, he was alluding to Christ's power.

But this time he's saying that he could do something for Jesus through his own power.

And that plays in the hands of a listener question. B .B.

in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania wants to know, did Satan really have the ability to give

Christ all that he was promising or was this just a lie and a trick?

Well, I think it was clearly a lie because Satan is the father of lies. All he can do is lie.

And even though after the fall of man and sin, the apostle

Paul says Satan is the god of this world. And we know he's very active in every nation in the earth.

But Satan has never had sovereign control of everything that God doesn't have.

So no, I think it was purely a lie that he was promising Christ something that he could never deliver.

That would be my position on it. Because Satan cannot tell the genuine, sincere truth.

He certainly could have provided a lot to Jesus in terms of his own limited sphere of influence.

But no, he couldn't have provided Jesus with everything because ultimately the earth is the

Lord's and the fullness thereof. And Christ still had all authority, even as God the son along with the father and the son.

So no, I think Satan was totally still lying and could not have been able to do what he was promising.

Unless, of course, God gave him the ability to do that, just as he gave

Satan the ability to torment Job in every step of his torment of Job.

He had to ask God for permission. Right. Yeah. Well, you wanted me to remind you about Jesus's responses to these temptations.

Yes, thank you. Yesterday, I alluded briefly to the fact that, well, let's just start with the thought.

It's very important for our listeners as they read the

Matthew, Mark and Luke accounts, well, particularly Matthew and Luke, because Mark chapter 1, verses 12, 13, right in there, do not give the three temptations.

Mark only gives a brief summary that Jesus was tempted. Matthew 4 and Luke 4 give all three temptations specifically.

And Matthew and Luke show Jesus' specific response. And this is very important for us to see, because what you see with each temptation, you see

Jesus' response. And it's noteworthy to realize Jesus did not start arguing with Satan.

He didn't enter into a philosophical debate, or a theological debate, or a

Bible debate with Satan. All Jesus does is replace

Satan's lie and temptation with the truth of God. So Jesus, in each temptation, quotes directly from the book of Deuteronomy, which actually was the book that God gave

Israel in the wilderness journey, when they were in the wilderness for 40 years, the book of Deuteronomy.

Of course, the first five books of the Bible are the Pentateuch, which were the books that Moses wrote, but particularly

Deuteronomy was the book that records about Israel's journeys and about the law that God gave them in their journey.

So Jesus quotes Deuteronomy three times back to Satan. And he's identifying with Israel as the new leader of Israel in the new covenant.

But he's also using the promises of God and the word of God as a man to combat satanic temptation.

And so a great old Scottish preacher and theologian,

Douglas Macmillan, said about this, when

Satan tempted Jesus, all that Jesus did was stuff in Satan's mouth the bread of God from Deuteronomy.

And he made him eat that bread. And so it's very important for the

Christian to realize that when we're tempted, it's always a lie.

It's always a temptation based on non -reality, based on a lie, a fabrication.

And all we need to do is recognize the temptation and we need to respond to it with the truth of God.

And, you know, we can respond. First Corinthians 10, 13 says that no temptation has taken us, but such as is common to man.

But God is faithful who with the temptation will also provide a way of escape that we may be able to bear it.

Well, the way of escape is to arm ourselves with the truth that we can respond to temptation with the truth of God.

And that's what our Savior did in the temptation. So Jesus conquers every temptation that Satan brought.

And finally, the Bible says when Satan had ended the temptation, he departs from Jesus until a more convenient time.

Well, he must have come back later and tempted Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane or other times.

But here the temptation period has ended and Christ is left in such a weakened state that the

Gospels say that the angels came and ministered to him. And this shows us that the angels did have a special place in ministering to Jesus in the days of his flesh, even on more than one occasion.

Because in Gethsemane, the angels also came and ministered to Christ at that time.

So this also says something to us that's very wonderful. The man Jesus was truly human in his times of weakness.

He truly needed help. God sent the angels to help the

Lord Jesus in his weakness, in his time of temptation. Well, we have another...

OK, did you want to finish that statement? I'm sorry. We have another listener's question.

We have Christopher in Western Suffolk County, Long Island. And Christopher says in the verse in Matthew chapter four, where it says

Jesus said to him, meaning the devil. On the other hand, it is written, you shall not put the

Lord your God to the test. Is that an admission on Jesus's part that he is

God and that the devil should not test him? Or was Jesus referring to his father who the devil reminded him would protect him?

That's a very good question. Well, it could be both. Because we know

Jesus is the Lord God, he is God the son. And so maybe

Jesus could have meant, Satan, you're not to put me, the

Lord God, to the test. But also, he's just quoted also earlier, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

So Jesus could have been saying, Satan, I'm man here.

And as a man, neither you nor I am to put the

Lord our God to the test. So Chris, it could have been either or both.

Have you ever heard of any kind of consensus on theologians and scholars and exegetes as to anybody who might be convinced that Jesus was, in this instance, only talking about himself or in this instance, only talking about his father?

No, I have not heard any of that specifically. Perhaps I've read that from the past, but I don't remember.

And again, I think it's conjecture. I don't think we can clearly know. Only the context of the passage can tell us more.

We know Jesus was there as a man with his physical limitations.

So he could have been referring to God the Father, or he could have been referring to himself.

And what would you like, before we go to the final break, which we have about six or seven minutes, but what would you like to highlight in regard to these passages before we leave for the break?

Yeah, I really think it's very important just to think about the true theology of Jesus' temptation.

The question arises, obviously, could Jesus, if he's God, truly be actually tempted?

If so, how? Could he have sinned, etc.? So you're talking about the impeccability versus the peccability of Christ.

Right, yeah, that's the theologian's term for it. The impeccability of Christ means that Jesus as God, and even as the

God -man, there's no way he could have sinned because he's God. The peccability of Christ would imply, well, even though he's

God, as a man, he was truly human. So he had a human will and human emotions and a human mind, and therefore, potentially, could he have sinned?

That's kind of what we're talking about. Well, we have to start with some basic things. First of all, we know the

Bible says, God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt anyone.

But we know God is perfectly holy, and so we know theologically that neither

God the Father or God the divine Son or God the Holy Spirit could have sinned, that there's no way

God himself can sin. And therefore, we know that when Jesus came to be incarnated as the

Son of God, he still remained God. He was still divine, and he had no sinful nature.

So obviously, from the divine side, the deity of Christ, we know that Jesus could not have sinned.

But even the great Princeton theologian, Charles Hodge, he leaned toward the peccability of Christ.

And it's very interesting. I can't quote in here, there's not time. But Charles Hodge took the view that in his humanity, the mystery is that Christ truly was tempted with a legitimate temptation, and that presupposes or implies that there was a legitimate choice.

Well, I would not hold to that Christ was peccable in his human nature and he could give in to sin.

But the book of Hebrews, it doesn't address the fact that he could or couldn't.

It stresses this amazing thing that Christ was truly tempted in all points like we are.

So in his humanity, Christ did have a true human mind, a true human will, and that implies that there was a legitimate choice to be made.

We also know that Christ would have felt the temptations humanly.

And so therefore, Jesus lived and faced the reality of temptation, and yet he did not choose ever to give in.

He was without sin, Hebrews 7, 26 says. 1 Peter 2, 22 says, he committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth.

And so the great reality was Christ as a man had no affinity towards sin, in no respect was he fallen, in no respect was his nature corrupt.

And when there was no possibility of him giving in to sin, enticement to sin,

Christ was a real temptation, but Jesus in no way ever gave in to it.

So that's the glorious thing. Though he was tempted from the human side, he truly had a human choice, but from the divine side, he could never give in to it.

So you're saying that the fact that it was a real temptation and a real choice, the definitions of those concepts do not require, as Charles Hodge believed, that in his humanity, he could have chosen to sin.

You don't believe that Hodge is correct in the way he is defining temptation in these passages?

Right. I'm not saying Hodge believed that Jesus fully could have sinned as God.

I'm not saying that at all. But Hodge, I think, was saying Christ in his true humanity, there was a legitimate choice.

He felt the temptations. And humanly, in his human nature, he did have a true human will.

And volitionally, he had that human ability to choose differently than the

Father's will. In fact, Jesus expressed that in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, Father, I don't want this.

Let this pass from me. He was saying, I don't want this choice that's before me to suffer the full cup of your wrath.

If there's any other way, let that be. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

Well, he's saying there, humanly, he has a human will that doesn't want this.

Otherwise, it would make no sense for him to say, not my will, but yours be done.

So his human will at that moment was different than the Father's divine will.

But Jesus submitted to the Father's will. So there's a great mystery there that we cannot fully comprehend.

Well, we're going to go our final break right now. It's going to be a lot more brief than the other breaks in the show. If you have a question,

I would urge you to submit it immediately, because we're rapidly running out of time. Our email address is, once again, chrisarnson at gmail .com.

chrisarnson at gmail .com. Give us your first name, at least city and state and country of residence. Don't go away. We'll be right back with Mack Tomlinson, right after these messages from our sponsors.

James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here. I'm very excited to announce that my longtime friend Chris Arnson of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio and I are heading down to Atlanta, Georgia again for the

G3 National Conference. That's Thursday, September 21st through Saturday, the 23rd, on a theme that I have been preaching, teaching, writing about and defending in live public debates for most of my life, the sovereignty of God.

I'll be joined on the speaking roster by Steve Lawson, Voti Baucom, Paul Washer, Virgil Walker, Scott Anuel, and Josh Bice, founder of G3 Ministries.

And there's more great news. Chris Arnson of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio can get you a 30 % discount off the registration fee.

Go to g3min .org. That's g3min .org and enter promo code

G3ISIR. That's G3ISIR for the 30 % discount.

Chris Arnson and I look forward to seeing you all Thursday, September 21st through Saturday, the 23rd for the

G3 National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on the sovereignty of God. Make sure you stop by the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Exhibitor Booth and say hi to Chris Arnson while you're there.

Go to g3min .org and enter promo code G3ISIR for your 30 % discount off the registration fee.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa of Grace Church at Franklin here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially.

Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in scripture through the person and work of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end for which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our

Sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always.

Hi, I'm Buzz Taylor. Chris Arnson of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio has had a long -time partnership with our friends at CVBBS, which stands for Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.

They specialize in supplying Reformed and Puritan books and Bibles at discount prices that make them affordable for everyone.

CVBBS has been a family -owned book service since 1987, operating out of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

They seek to bring you the best available Christian books and Bibles at the best possible prices.

Unlike other book sites, they make no effort to provide every book that is available or popular because, frankly, much of what is being printed is not worth your time.

That means you can get to the good stuff faster. It also means you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic, heretical, and otherwise faith -insulting materials promoted by the secular book vendors.

Browse the pages at ease, shop at your leisure, and purchase with confidence at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.

Order online at cvbbs .com. That's cvbbs .com.

Or you can order by phone at 1 -800 -656 -0231.

That's 1 -800 -656 -0231. Please let our friends at CVBBS know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

NASB. I'm author Gary DeMar, president of American Vision, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Dan LeBennick of West Hills Baptist Church in Huntington Station, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Justin Peters of Justin Peters Ministries, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Reverend Buzz Taylor, author of God's Lawson, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Dr. William Webster, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Battleground, Washington, founder of the ministry

Christian Resources, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Ryan Galan of Central Islip Community Church in Central Islip, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Brandon Smith of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Jackson, Georgia, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com. That's nasbible .com to place your order.

As host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, I frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations.

A church I've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey, pastored by Alan Dunn.

Grace Covenant Baptist Church believes it's God's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he shall be represented in the world.

They believe churches need to turn to the Bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship

God in spirit and truth. Grace Covenant Baptist Church endeavors to maintain a

God -centered focus. Reading, preaching, and hearing the word of God, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, baptism, and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship, performed with faith, joy, and sobriety.

Discover more about Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, New Jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace

.com. That's gcbcnj .squarespace .com.

Or call them at 908 -996 -7654. That's 908 -996 -7654.

Tell Pastor Dunn that you heard about Grace Covenant Baptist Church on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Getting a driver's license, running a cash register, flipping burgers, passing sixth grade.

Do you know what they all have in common? They all require training, assessments, and certifications.

But do you know what requires no training at all? Becoming a parent. My name is

A .M. Brewster. I'm the president of Truth, Love, Parent and host of its award -winning podcast. I've been a biblical family counselor since the early 2000s.

And what I've discovered is that the majority of Christian parents have never been biblically equipped to do the work of the ministry in their homes.

That's why Truth, Love, Parent exists. We serve God by equipping dads and moms to be the ambassador parents

God called and created them to be. We produce free parenting resources, train church leaders, and offer biblical counseling so that the next generation of dads and moms can use the scriptures to parent their children for life and godliness.

Please visit us at truthloveparent .com. Hi, this is

John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona. Taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnzen and the

Iron Sharpens Iron podcast. I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the

Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray.

I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise.

And yet God has raised Chris up for just such a time. And knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a in prayer and in finances.

I'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting

Iron Sharpens Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?

I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com

where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com. James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.

If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know I have a great love for getting Bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity.

And besides that, they feel so good. I'm so delighted I discovered Post Tenebrous Lux Bible rebinding.

No radio ad will be long enough to sing their praises sufficiently, but I'll give it a shot. Jeffrey Rice of Post Tenebrous Lux is a remarkably gifted craftsman and artisan.

All his work is done by hand from the cutting to the pleating of corners to the perimeter stitching.

Jeffrey uses the finest in buttery soft imported leathers in a wide variety of gorgeous colors like the turquoise goatskin tanned in Italy used for my

Nestle All -in -28 edition with a navy blue goatskin inside liner and the electric blue goatskin from a

French tannery used to rebind a Reformation study Bible I used as a gift. The silver gilding he added on the page edges has a stunning mirror finish resembling highly polished chrome.

Jeffrey will customize your rebinding to your specifications and even emboss your logo into the leather, making whatever he rebinds a one -of -a -kind work of art.

For more details on Post Tenebrous Lux Bible rebinding, go to ptlbiblerebinding .com.

That's ptlbiblerebinding .com. The Prince of Preachers Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,

Growing a beard is a habit most natural, scriptural, manly, and beneficial. Grace and peace to all the

Iron Sharpens Iron listeners. This is Tony with thestandardbeardcare .com. That's right, thestandardbeardcare .com

is a Christ -exalting, better known, and simple name in beard care. So if you have a beard, know a guy with a beard, or ladies if you're married to a man with a beard, head over to thestandardbeardcare .com.

Check out the vast array of all -natural, handcrafted products to make that beard scriptural, manly, and beneficial.

When you do so, you will help to support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. When you use the promo code IRON at checkout, you will receive free shipping to anywhere in the lower 48, and 10 % of your donations will go back to Chris Arnzen and Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

So head over to thestandardbeardcare .com, where the standard is the standard.

And don't forget folks to enter that promo code IRON when purchasing your beard care products at thestandardbeardcare .com.

Please try to start making a list of everyone that you know and love who has a beard, who will benefit from these products, and that once again is thestandardbeardcare .com.

Enter the promo code IRON, and Iron Sharpens Iron Radio will not only receive a 10 % discount and will receive 10 % of the profits from that, but you will also get free shipping.

And also, I want to remind you very quickly, don't forget that the founder of the

Historical Bible Society, whose ads you hear every day on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Daniel P.

Buttafuoco, he is an attorney. He is a personal injury and medical malpractice attorney, and he works with clients in all 50 states.

So no matter where you live in the United States, if you are the victim of an accident, a serious accident, or a personal injury, or a medical malpractice case, please call 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, and mention that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

We want to return our gratitude to Dan Buttafuoco for the many years he's been supporting this program, going back to 2005 when we first launched the show.

And also, every event that I have, whether it's debates or conferences, Dan has been a very generous supporter, and I want to thank him by urging you to make use of his law firm whenever possible.

That's 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, the law firm of Buttafuoco and Associates. Always mention that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Well, Mack Tomlinson, why don't you start off with what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners today on the subject of the testing and temptation of Jesus Christ and wilderness, before I take any listener questions that are waiting for you.

Yeah, well, I'll just share a brief, a few minutes here. Chris, you can interrupt me whenever you want to, but I just want to practically speak about some application about the

Christian facing temptation, because we must take

Jesus' experience and his example and apply it to the Christian life. The great 19th century pastor,

J .C. Ryle said this. Well, the disciple is not greater than his Lord. If Satan tempted

Jesus, we will regularly be tempted. And every Christian that's honest with himself knows that they're tempted regularly.

We have a battle with ongoing temptation, and we will until we die and go to heaven.

But what does Christ's experience mean for us today and for the Christian life?

Well, primarily, it certainly means that Jesus is our great example.

Number one, we face the same battle that Jesus did in the days of his flesh.

Number two, we have the same choice of Jesus that when we face temptation, that we're to resist it.

Number three, really, we have the same victory promised as Jesus had because he had the

Scriptures and the promises of God. And now as a believer in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, we can use the promises of God to overcome the evil one.

So what's a Christian to do? Well, he's to arm himself in his mind with the word of God.

He is to get his mind renewed to the truth of God and realize that our responsibility as believers is to avoid all temptation.

We're to flee useful lust. We're to avoid even the appearance of evil.

Because we will be tempted. And we've got to realize that we are to resist any temptation we recognize.

But also, it's important for us to remember that to be tempted is not sin.

Temptation is not sin. But if we yield to temptation, if we give into the temptation, that is when it begins to be sin.

So we must arm ourselves with this mindset that we're not to give in to sin, that we're to overcome it with the word of God in our heart and by the power of the

Holy Spirit. Chris, did you have a question you wanted me to address? Yes, I have an anonymous listener who says,

I'm remaining anonymous because I am fearful that I may be blaspheming

God in what I am about to say. But Jesus Christ, in reading the scriptures, does frustrate me at times because you want him, you find yourself screaming at the page to clearly declare that he is

God. And when he was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he, in my opinion, should have said that very loudly and clearly.

He could have told Satan, you have no business tempting me because I created you.

Since he created, along with the Father, everything that was created. How do you respond to what

I said? And am I blaspheming by saying that I am frustrated at times by the words of Christ in the

Bible? Well, I would say to the listener, no, I don't think you're blaspheming

God at all. I think you're being honest. These real questions come to us and we need real answers.

And I think my answer briefly is Jesus could have said to Satan, hey, you're talking to God, you have no power over me.

But as I pointed out yesterday, you know, Jesus, when he emptied himself of his glory, when he came and humbled himself to become one of us, he laid aside his rights as God and his glory.

And he became one of us. And so he functioned in the earth every day of his human life as a human being.

And he was facing Satan as a true man, which was part of his earthly responsibility to be our redeemer.

Jesus did not draw upon his powers of deity any of the days of his flesh.

He was functioning as a man in the pension on the Holy Spirit. So actually, his addressing

Satan in the days of his temptation only as man is a great encouragement to us because we can't say to Satan, we are

God. We are human beings. Jesus has set an example to us in his wilderness temptation that he was functioning only as a man.

That is an encouragement that's very real. By the way,

Anonymous, if you are a first -time questioner, send us your full mailing address so that CVBBS .com

can ship out to you a free New American Standard Bible, compliments of CVBBS .com

and compliments of the publishers of the NASB. And we have

CJ in Lindenhurst, Long Island, New York. I heard Chris Zarnes introduce you as an author.

I was wondering if you've ever written on this subject. And if you haven't, can you recommend the books of others on this subject?

Well, I have not written anything, Chris. I've only preached series on it before.

I mean, there are wonderful books on this. And, you know,

I probably could. My mind isn't retrieving some of those right now, but it's a wonderful area for deeper study, just studying the life of Jesus in the

Gospels and letting it sink in as well as seeing what the New Testament says about temptation itself.

The final thing I would say is Jesus' example to us shows that what priority and place the

Word of God must have in our lives, we must have it in our lives and in our hearts to combat temptation.

Only as our minds renewed to the truth, as Romans 12, 1 and 2 says, will we be able to not be conformed to this world, as Paul says.

So if we want to sin less, having the Word of God in our hearts is the key.

As Joshua 1 says, this book of the law shall not depart from our mouth, but we must meditate in it day and night.

So that's Joshua's way of saying we must keep our nose in the book of God every day for our minds to be renewed.

Amen. And I want to once again let our listeners know the websites that are very important to know for—and

I had a phone ringing here—websites that are very important to know in regard to Mack Thomlinson.

First of all, Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas, the church where he pastors. ProvidenceDenton .org,

ProvidenceDenton .org. And if you would like to attend—and I hope you do—the conference that we have been promoting, the

Fellowship Conference of New York, which is going to be held in Merrick, Long Island at Grace Reformed Baptist Church.

And that's going to be held on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 23rd through the 25th.

Go to I'llBeHonest .com, I'llBeHonest .com.

Mack, it's always a joy and a delight to have you in the program. I look forward to your return. I want to thank all of our listeners, especially those who took the time to write.

And I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater